TV Segment Highlights Anti-Poaching Efforts
Safari Club International 02.23.12
On Tuesday, February 22, 2012, NBC’s “Rock Center with Brian Williams” aired a detailed segment on rhino poaching in South Africa. Because the price of rhino horn has increased dramatically over the past few decades, statistics show poachers killed nearly 450 rhinos last year. In 2012 alone, poachers have killed one rhino every 18 hours.
The segment also highlighted the efforts by conservation groups in South Africa trying to combat this illegal and reprehensible trade. The WILD Foundation (www.wild.org) began ‘Operation Rhino’ in the 1960s, a program responsible for establishing a successful anti-poaching network working with the operators of breeding colonies and game reserves. Now, by inserting microchips and collecting DNA samples of the animals, researchers can match confiscated horns with poached carcasses and take legal action.
This issue is at the forefront of Safari Club International (SCI) and Safari Club International Foundation’s (SCI Foundation) conservation efforts. “We appreciate the assistance from NBC in spreading the message that poaching and illegal trade will not be tolerated. SCI and SCI Foundation continue to develop partnerships with wildlife agencies and other conservation organizations to help put an end to the despicable poaching of rhinos,” said Kevin Anderson, SCI President.
Through a partnership with the WILD Foundation and the Magqubu Ntombela Foundation, Safari Club International established the “Rhino Informant Incentive Fund.” The program employs an expert team of informants who gather legal and forensic intelligence about poachers. Contributions to the WILD Foundation Rhino Informant Incentive Fund can be made at https://www.gifttool.com/donations/Donate?ID=1274&AID=445
“Continued cooperation between government, conservation groups and private stakeholders is essential to enhance wildlife management in South Africa,” said Joseph Hosmer, President of SCI Foundation. “We will continue to focus our resources on the conservation of the rhino and effective enforcement against criminal poachers.”
Protecting hunters’ rights and promoting wildlife conservation, SCI’s two areas of focus, historically has been the interest of hundreds of individuals long before SCI was established. But how did SCI as an organization begin?
Forty years ago, there were many safari clubs across the country made up of local, unaffiliated groups of hunters. One such was Safari Club of Los Angeles, which was formed in April 1971 by forty-seven individuals. In early 1972, an out-of-towner from a similar club in Chicago attended one of the monthly Wednesday night meetings, and it was decided that the L.A. club should attempt to combine with the one in Chicago to make it an affiliated chapter. The founder of Safari Club of Los Angeles, C.J. McElroy, went to the Windy City and instituted the new chapter.
Eleven months after the formation of Safari Club of Los Angeles, on March 9, 1972, the name was changed officially to Safari Club International. SCI continued to reach out to other independent safari clubs throughout the United States in an effort to combine them into a single overall organization.
Today, interest in SCI’s two primary missions has grown a worldwide network. Subsequent involvement and promotion of these missions is rooted in each of our 55,000 members, supported through each of our 190 membership chapters found across the globe, and put into action by government representatives and personnel both nationally and internationally.
In this way, we can encourage an appreciation for nature and wildlife so that conservation efforts remain strong, while also fighting to protect our rich hunting heritage. Big changes can be achieved through the endeavors of many who are united in a mission – the mission of Safari Club International.
